Leilani Perez, 7, left, and Chantal Vizcarrondo, 8, both of Bridgeport, cherr on their teammates during a relay race in the gym of the Orcutt Boys & Girls Club at 102 Park Street in Bridgeport, Conn. on Thursday, July 11, 2013. The club, which lacks air conditioning, was constructed in 1930.

Ken Bruno, executive director of the Orcutt Boys & Girls Club at 102 Park Street in Bridgeport, Conn. on Thursday, July 11, 2013. Bruno attended the club as a boy in the 1950's and 60's, where he learned the art of boxing.

The stage area shows wear and tear in the gym of the Orcutt Boys & Girls Club at 102 Park Street in Bridgeport, Conn. on Thursday, July 11, 2013. The club, which lacks air conditioning, was constructed in 1930.

Tarah Bernard, 13, leaps over a makeshift hurdle during a relay race in the gym of the Orcutt Boys & Girls Club at 102 Park Street in Bridgeport, Conn. on Thursday, July 11, 2013. The club, which lacks air conditioning, was constructed in 1930.

Over the past two years, the city and the Orcutt Boys & Girls Club have been embroiled in a lawsuit over the North End Boys & Girls Club at 555 Madison Ave. The city argued that the building was closed while the Orcutt club argued that the building was open on a limited basis. In any event, the suit was holding up the release of $2.8 million in state money to renovate the North End building.

But recently, thanks to what became successful negotiating, the city will soon reap the benefits of having not one, but two renovated facilities for its youth.

At the April 21 city council meeting, Contracts Committee Report item 50-13 was passed unanimously, allowing the city to purchase the North End building from the Boys & Girls Club for $980,000 -- money that should go toward helping refurbish the Orcutt club at 102 Park St.

"First, last and always, it's always been about the kids," said attorney Richard Saxl, who represented the Orcutt club in its negotiations with the city. "And it looked to me and the members of the (Orcutt) board that the best way of making this happen was to turn the facility over to the city of Bridgeport and let that building get fixed up and use the proceeds to make sure we do the work that needs to be done at the Orcutt Club and give them a little bit of an endowment so they're able to continue to do the work they're doing."

The eventual restoration of the North End facility -- which will be run by the Cardinal Shehan Center -- will begin as soon as the closing takes place, sometime during the week of May 19, according to Saxl, a date that can't come soon enough for Mayor Bill Finch.

"I've been trying to do this since I've been mayor," Finch said after the city council meeting last week. "We desperately need to get this facility open. It's exciting because our kids really need this. I've got four boys and I can tell you, if it wasn't for those types of outlets, a lot more kids would be getting into trouble."

The struggle over the North End building dates to April 2012, when the city filed suit against the Orcutt club regarding the alleged lack of usage of the North End facility. When the city originally gave that Madison Avenue land to the club in 1949, there was a "revert clause" inserted into the deed that allowed the city to claim the building if the club (ital) "ceases to operate thereon a clubhouse for the social, educational, physical and moral betterment of the girls and boys of Bridgeport." (end)

Two months later, in June 2012, the Orcutt club counter-sued, claiming first that the facility was open for a "Weed & Seed" Program, which was a federal, state and locally operated law enforcement and community initiative that worked against violent crime, drug abuse and gang activity. Orcutt officials said that the North End building was open on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. for the program.

For almost the next two years, that was the gist of the arguments and the lawsuit.

But then, talks began about dropping the suit and looking at other ways to make both sides happy.

"Starting in the early fall, we mutually agreed to an appraiser and agreed to share the cost of an appraiser, so that was a 50-50 split, but the key was getting a good appraisal and that didn't happen until late fall," said assistant city attorney Ed Schmidt, who negotiated for the city. "Then there was a process that we had to go through. We had to reconfirm that that (original) state commitment (of bond money) was still there and that took time. But there was enthusiasm everywhere we went. Everyone felt it was a fair price, a great location and something that we needed to do."

Once the appraisal, an estimated $1.3 million, came back, Saxl and Schmidt sat down and starting hammering out the settlement.

Both sides eventually agreed to a price of $980,000.

"Ed Schmidt and Dick Saxl for the Boys' Club were terrific," Finch said. "They worked it out in a very civilized manner. It was probably too much to expect the Boys & Girls Club to run such an expansive footprint, but having said that, the kids deserve to have that building open. So it was great that level heads prevailed and everyone was able to put the kids first."

"I think the Boys & Girls Club was anxious to see the building get put back to use," Schmidt said, "so they were kind enough to agree to the $980,000, which, clearly, it's worth. But now that we own it, we have to renovate it and there will be additional costs. And the more we got into that, the more reasonable the Boys & Girls Club was to negotiate to a fair number. But it did take a while."

Shehan Center executive director Terry O'Connor is no stranger to renovating old facilities. The Shehan Center -- formerly the State Armory -- was built in 1882. Over the past 20 years, the building has gotten a new roof and a new basketball court. The downstairs -- a game room and study area -- has been totally redone, along with the locker rooms and the weight room. A darkroom was built, as was a kitchen for photography and cooking classes.

"It's a win-win for the city," O'Connor said. "When you look around, you have Burroughs (Community Center) at one end, and you've got Hall (Neighborhood House), us, McGivney and now the North End opportunity, with Central High School right behind it, so there's a great opportunity there to put in a new pool, a new weight room, a new gym ¦ there's nothing better than new. So many organizations are going to be able to use the facility."

The Orcutt facility is Bridgeport's only remaining Boys & Girls club of the original three that's fully open. Built in 1930, it serves between 75 to 100 kids a day. Middle Street, which was located downtown off Main Street, closed decades ago. And North End was only used on a very limited basis after closing its doors in 2010 for a proposed renovation that never came.

Still, the fact that Orcutt was able to keep its doors open despite serious financial hardships speaks positively of its board of directors and its executive director, Ken Bruno.

"When this particular board of directors and Ken Bruno came in, the (Orcutt) club was in horrible shape," Saxl said. "There was a mortgage on that building at Madison Avenue ¦ a lot of other things. They have clean title now. They were good shepherds to the building."

And they were also more than willing to compromise with the city to finally end the ongoing lawsuits.

"When you put all the egos aside and look at `what can we do for the kids,' it was an easy decision to let the city take it over, run it and get it opened again," Saxl said.

"All sides agreed that the best thing was we needed to help the kids in the city of Bridgeport and to come to an agreement that was good for both sides and open that building up," added city council president Tom McCarthy, who represents the 133rd district, where the North End building is located.

"It's a win-win from the city's point of view," he added.

Once the closing takes place and city and Shehan Center officials can get into the North End building to inspect it and see what repair work needs to be done, McCarthy said that the facility could be renovated and open again by the summer of 2015.

"We know for a fact that the roof needs to be done, the boiler needs to be done," he said. "And there's probably some other things like the gym floor, but it depends on the (interior) walls; we might have to do massive stuff. We know the body of the building is healthy but I couldn't tell you about the insides right now."

"When that building was made in the early 1950s, it was made from real steel and brick," Schmidt added. "The building itself has very good bones. Yes, it has a leaky roof, but the frame of the building is steel and it's not going anywhere. So we're starting with value, with having the foundation and the steel frame. When the appraisal came back, it was significantly less money to fully renovate it, over 1 million dollars cheaper to renovate it rather than tear it down and build a new one."

"It'll be open just as soon as we can get it open," Finch said. "Having said that, you just can't predict these things, especially once you start opening up walls in old buildings, you never know what you're going to find. But there's an overriding joy that we all feel. Now, both facilities have resources that they can access to fix up their buildings for kids."

Because in the end, the kids are what it's all about.

"I was watching the kids play on the outdoor basketball courts (at North End) earlier this week and this is a great thing, a happy thing," Saxl said. "To be able to have those facilities upgraded is super. This is a wonderful thing to see happen, to go from the litigation stage to the shaking hands stage.